Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will not seek people for ICE, will follow law

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The Douglas County sheriff says his deputies are “not here to do the bidding of the federal government” but will adhere to the law.

President Donald Trump has promised mass deportation in his second term. He signed an executive order on Monday to expedite deportation without due process of undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for less than two years and allegedly committed crimes, compounding the existing worry for security among immigrant communities.

Although other sheriffs across the country have pledged support of Trump’s plans, Sheriff Jay Armbrister said the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office disagrees with mass deportation of families and children. But he said his office won’t protect people who are jailed for alleged crimes if Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a valid warrant for them.

“The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is not here to try to deport anybody,” Armbrister said. “We’re not here to try to rat anybody out to the federal government. We’re here to simply enforce the laws and help the people who need help.”

‘It’s just not something that we do’

Armbrister said DGSO deputies do not actively seek people out for ICE, and they do not raid local businesses or homes of people suspected of lacking legal citizenship documents.

“It’s just not something that we do, and it’s frankly just not something I’m interested in doing,” he said.

Any area law enforcement bookings are at the Douglas County Jail. DGSO oversees the jail and is required by law to ask people during the booking process if they are U.S. citizens, Armbrister said. 

“If somebody was to answer that and say, ‘No, I’m not a citizen,’ we don’t flag them or somehow reach out or contact ICE,” he said. “We don’t let people know.”

But Armbrister said when someone is booked into the jail, their fingerprints, photographs and other information are taken and uploaded onto online systems that the federal government has access to. That’s how ICE agents locate people on their lists and reach out to place a detainer.

Sometimes during a traffic stop, a deputy’s computer system will notify them if a person is listed in the National Crime Information Center database. It may flag someone listed as a missing person or a runaway with a suspected stolen car, for example, which Armbrister recalls happening when he used to patrol. The system may flag them as being under government surveillance and classify them as a “terrorist.” More information on the alert tells officers not to notify the person of this status and that it’s only for officer safety in extreme, rare circumstances.

But immigration statuses should not generally be available when a deputy runs someone’s information on their computer system during traffic stops, according to Armbrister.

“If you were just stopping somebody who has simply crossed the border and has made it all the way up here and has not caused any problems or had any trouble or anything like that, to my knowledge, there is nothing that simply pops up and says, ‘Hey, this person is here illegally,’” Armbrister said.

For deputies, it’s safe to assume that if someone being stopped doesn’t have U.S. identification or paperwork, they may be undocumented, according to Armbrister. But he said his deputies don’t make arrests solely based on that assumption.

Armbrister said he understands people may be increasingly wary of law enforcement in the coming days. He said he hopes they will still reach out for assistance.

“And if there’s any problems with that, then they can take it up with me, because I’ve made it pretty clear with our folks that we’re here to help people who need help,” Armbrister said.

‘We don’t want to take up housing space within our jail’

Before Armbrister was sheriff, he said, ICE agents would call hoping to pick up someone in custody in Douglas County. They’d fax over a type of detainer form that were signed by agents. Armbrister after taking office resolved that the form was unacceptable, and the DGSO notified ICE they were no longer valid.

DGSO spokesperson George Diepenbrock, on behalf of jail administration, said ICE now uses different forms: I-200, a probable cause warrant, and I-205, a warrant for deportation. They’re still signed only by an agent, not a judge, but Armbrister said either “actually, in the eyes of the law, is the same as an arrest warrant, and it meets what we need statutorily to hold somebody,” unlike the previous forms.

Diepenbrock said the office can’t hold a person solely on a detainer.

The DGSO notified ICE that after an agent signs the form, sends it over, and the person is released from custody on all other charges, the DGSO will place a 48-hour hold on the person. Immigration authorities must then pick the person up within that time frame. If they don’t, the DGSO releases the hold, Armbrister said.

“The biggest problem, really, is that we don’t want to take up housing space within our jail facility for federal holds when they’re not in any hurry to come and get them,” Armbrister said. “Because they’ll let people sit for months at a time if they’re just not super excited about coming to get somebody.”

Molly Adams / Lawrence Times Douglas County Jail

Armbrister said the DGSO saw zero ICE holds in 2024. But already in 2025, two people with ICE-related holds have shown up on the arrest and booking logs.

“It’s just sometimes you have a few, sometimes you have none for a long time,” Armbrister said.

In one of the cases, a man had several charges for violent crimes, including child abuse, and was arrested by Lawrence police after a call about a fight.

The other was related to a man arrested on a local warrant for two separate domestic violence incidents. In his case, the ICE detainer had been submitted for him several weeks after he was booked.

The DGSO accepted ICE warrant forms for both, and one person was picked up by immigration authorities within 12 hours, Armbrister said. ICE lifted the hold on the other person before the full 48 hours was up.

Armbrister said “an overwhelming majority” of immigrants in the community “just simply want to find a better life.” He said he hoped they could find a way to achieve legal status “because a lot of them are just very good folks trying to raise their family in a place that’s a little bit safer and a little bit better for all of them.”

Know your rights

No one is obligated to show any identification or speak to ICE authorities. ICE agents must present their warrant, which is not signed by a judge, with the correct information to detain someone.

ICE agents must have a warrant signed by a judge to enter someone’s house.

If a law enforcement officer asks someone for their ID, they must provide it, but they should know they have a right to remain silent.

It’s important not to post or repost unconfirmed information about suspected ICE sightings in Lawrence. Unverified posts can cause unnecessary panic. The Lawrence Times will report if we are able to confirm any ICE presence in the area.

Lawrence advocacy organization Sanctuary Alliance recommends verifying suspected ICE sightings by taking photo or video and including timestamps if sharing about them online. Recording in public is completely legal.

Read more “know your rights” information in this article.

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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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